


ramen and runaways

by seonghwazz



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Inspired by a twitter comic, OH LORD, angsty, caring!seonghwa, i wrote this in a day, no beta sorry folks, runaway!jongho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 16:53:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24000118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seonghwazz/pseuds/seonghwazz
Summary: jongho and seonghwa talk ramen and staying with each otherderived from a twitter comic. heavily inspired by @thatstarlitsky’s “Runaway”.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	ramen and runaways

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Runaway](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22869997) by [thatstarlitsky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatstarlitsky/pseuds/thatstarlitsky). 



> hello! here’s the twitter comic:
> 
> https://twitter.com/Noriimorii/status/1231601010985955328

jongho sat in front of the bowl of ramen, anxiously glancing up at the stranger who had told him to come home with him. he’d been hiding out in a coffee store, and the owner kicked him out for loitering. seonghwa’d invited him home with the promise of free food; how could jongho possibly turn that down?

he had introduced himself as choi jongho, seventeen on the way to seonghwa’s house, on the insistence of the older that he should at least know his name.

seonghwa’s kitchen looked fine to jongho, but he wasn’t sure why it was so tidy, compared to the one at home. he wasn’t even sure if he could call the only place he’s ever lived in “home”, though. not anymore, at least.

“eat up, kid”, seonghwa says, ruffling jongho’s hair that looked, smelled and felt like a bird’s nest. jongho flinched, not at all used to the physical affection that this person was showing. 

no one’s touched him like this for years. jongho misses the feeling of fingers massaging his scalp, he misses hugs, he misses the occasional kiss that his mother would give him.

all that’s gone now, isn’t it?

so when this man that he’s barely known for a little more than an hour shows him more kindness than anyone has since he was twelve, jongho can’t help but feel the corners of his eyes sting. “why’re you so nice to me?”, he asks softly, fiddling with the straps of his orange backpack. it contains nothing but a few dollars and socks; he’s got nothing else but the clothes on his back.

seonghwa doesn’t answer; simply takes a long swig of his coffee, and sighs. “you look like you needed help.” jongho feels the tears come naturally, now. nobody has ever been so nice to him; not his friends, not his family. not even his own parents, who’d sworn that they would take care of him when he asked.

jongho’s bottled-up emotions finally spill out, and he bites his lip angrily as the hot tears spill out of his eyes. he was angry at the world; angry that his mother had left him, angry that this father had given up on him. angry at himself for running away from that hell; it sucked, but at least he’d had food and shelter. angry at himself for abandoning his excuse of a father.

seonghwa said nothing, just got up from his seat at the table and wrapped his arms around jongho. “it’s okay”, seonghwa said firmly. “whatever happened, it’s okay. cry it out, i swear it helps.”

jongho was embarassed that he was crying into the shoulder of a stranger; after all, men don’t cry, right? the first time that jongho had heard that statement, he’d thought that it was pure and utter bullshit. 

it still was, but jongho just didn’t want seonghwa to start calling him a pussy for crying. would he? jongho didn’t want to know.

jongho spent the next half-hour crying into seonghwa’s shoulder, crying until his voice had gone raw and the ramen cold. seonghwa gently pulled away from the embrace and jongho looked away, ashamed.

“you need to eat, kid”, seonghwa said soothingly. “it’s gone cold now, but you still need to eat.” jongho huffed softly, but picked up his chopsticks and started to eat anyway. “is it good?”, seonghwa asks, a gentle smile on his face. jongho nods once, before starting to devour the entire bowl of noodles in under ten minutes.

“you’re hungry, aren’t you?”, seonghwa laughs, taking jongho’s now-empty bowl and dirty chopsticks from the table, setting them down in the sink. jongho pouts a little, playing with his sweater paws defiantly. “not really. thank you, sir. i’ll get going now.”

the boy stands up from his seat, bowing down low to seonghwa before lacing up his battered converse. jongho longs to stay here, in this warm, inviting house with the warm, inviting seonghwa, but he knows better than to interrupt seonghwa’s peace and quiet. he’s already bothered him enough.

“hey, jongho, wait. do you have anywhere to go? a place to stay?”

seonghwa catches on to jongho’s collar, stopping the younger boy from leaving his house. “answer me first, or i’m not letting you go.”

jongho shakes his head no, looking down at his shoes embarassedly. seonghwa sighs. “if you don’t mind, you can stay with me. i’ve got an extra room and it’s lonely with just myself.”

the younger boy’s eyes widened with surprise and gratitude. “for real? there isn’t a catch, right?”, jongho asked. 

“no, there isn’t. go get yourself cleaned up, i’ll help you set up the bed. at least try to get some sleep before we talk about it tomorrow morning.” jongho nods, tiredly entering the washroom. he strips out of his uncomfortable jeans and the oversized hoodie that smells mostly of mildew and sweat, and as he showers for the first time in a week, he can’t help but finish almost half of seonghwa’s bottle of shampoo. it takes him ten minutes to get the greasy feeling out of his hair, and an extra five to make it smell like it used to.

he steps out of the bathroom feeling like a new and different person. seonghwa’s given him pyjamas that hang off of jongho’s frame, the pants slipping down his waist with every step that he takes. he doesn’t complain, though; their softer than anything he’s ever worn before.

jongho stumbles into seonghwa’s extra bedroom to see a bed with a fluffy pillow and an equally comfortable comforter.jongho cannot wait to descend onto that springy-looking mattress and to just fall asleep. seonghwa comes into the room carrying some extra clothes, hanging them up in the closet. “we’ll go shopping for things that really fit you, but for now these’ll have to do.”

“thank you”, jongho whispers softly. “thank you for everything, hyung.” seonghwa smiles kindly, ruffling jongho’s slightly wet hair for the second time that day. only this time, his hair smells like apples and strawberries. “your welcome, jongho. i’ll be in the living room if you need me.”

jongho slept well for the first time in months that night. he awoke the next morning to find seonghwa preparing breakfast. “good morning, jongho. sleep well?”, he asked. seonghwa’s cheeks were rosy and his hair was neatly parted in the middle.

“i slept well, thank you sir”, jongho says politely, siting down at the table. “knock that off”, seonghwa says teasingly. “the sir, i mean. call me hyung or seonghwa, jongho. i won’t mind.”

“sorry si-seonghwa hyung”, jongho corrects. “i’m just used to it.” seonghwa makes a sympathetic noise before setting down a plate of bacon, sausages and eggs in front of the boy. “eat well, jongho.”

jongho devours the food at the same pace as yesterday, inhaling the absolutely delicious bacon that’s been cooked to perfection. “how do you cook so well?”, jongho asks in wonder. “this is awesome!” seonghwa blushes shyly at the compliment, buttering his bread with a knife. 

“have you made your decision yet, jongho?”

jongho nods. 

“i’m staying here with you.”

seonghwa breaks into a smile. “wise choice”, he nods. “we’ll go get you some new clothes later, yeah?”

and that was how jongho was thrown into seonghwa’s life, and how seonghwa was thrown into his. jongho went back to school, on seonghwa’s request. seonghwa officially took jongho under his wing, helping him through all of life’s ups and downs.

jongho can’t thank seonghwa enough for picking him up that day. and seonghwa can’t thank jongho enough for staying by his side. 

**Author's Note:**

> i hope that you enjoyed this! please drop comments on how i can improve my style!


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